Technology Guide

Automation, worldwide networking and globalisation are the buzzwords of our times. Social processes in all areas are becoming more intricate and less transparent, as most individuals in modern industrial societies would agree. By stepping out of nature into the increasingly anthropogenic environment of our culture, humankind has taken control of its own social development, and in the longer term probably even of its evolutionary development. In times when individuals find it difficult to comprehend the full scale of the developments that are happening in business, science and society, the positive and negative aspects of mastering this challenge are becoming increasingly obvious. Is the growing complexity of modern society truly inevitable? To put it succinctly: yes.

Metals and alloys have been important to mankind for several millenniums, and have played a decisive role in technological evolution. Periods of evolution are named after metals (Bronze Age, Iron Age). More sophisticated methods enabled man to create higher temperatures and apply more complex chemical processes to convert ores into pure metals. The Machine Age was characterised by the large-scale production of train tracks and steam boilers of consistently high quality.

The term “ceramics” is used to describe inorganic, non-metallic solid materials of a polycrystalline or at least partly polycrystalline structure which are formed by a firing process (

sintering

). First of all, a ceramic mass is prepared from powders and optimised for a variety of shaping processes. These shaping processes give the components their geometry. Unsintered ceramic bodies are known as “green bodies”. The subsequent sintering process causes the ceramic body to become compacted and take on its finished form, which may then require further machining.

Polymers are macromolecular compounds with more than 1,000 atoms. They consist of a large number of small, self-repeating molecular units (monomers). The monomers can be used in different aggregate forms, as solids, liquids or gases, to produce a virtually infinite number of possible variants of polymers. This flexibility, which is unique for engineering materials, makes it possible to customise polymers for everyday applications.

Composites are macroscopically quasi-homogeneous materials consisting of two or more components (phases) which are insoluble in each other. This creates properties which could not be achieved using the individual components.

Since the 1990s, a new awareness of the finite nature of fossil resources and the need to diversify raw material resources has led to a sharp increase in research and development in the field of renewable resources in Europe and North America. There has consequently been a significant rise in the cultivation of plants that are not used by the food or feed industry but in energetic or industrial processes. In 2007, over 2% of the world’s agricultural land was being used to grow renewable raw materials.

Forest and timber products are an excellent example of an economic cycle in which a

renewable natural resource

(in this case wood) is used to make high-tech and innovative products and is ultimately employed as a CO

2

-neutral energy source at the end of its life cycle. Processing the raw material of wood into high-tech products poses a variety of challenges. Its extraction from the forest has to be sustainable, i. e. the number of trees felled must not exceed the annual growth rate of the forest. Forests need to serve as recreational, natural landscapes for people and as climate regulators producing oxygen and consuming CO

2

, while at the same time being an economic basis and resource for a very large and competitive industry.

Nanomaterials are composed of structures that can be produced in a controlled manner in a size ranging from 1–100 nm in one, two or three dimensions. One nanometre is a billionth of a metre (10

–9

m), or about 50,000 times smaller than the diameter of one human hair. Nanomaterials are nanostructured variants of conventional materials (e. g. metal and metal oxide powder) or new material classes like carbon nanotubes. They are applied as additives in material composites or for the functionalisation of surfaces.

The surface of an object is what defines our perception of it. Surfaces are not generally perfect, but their utility value and aesthetic appeal can be enhanced by suitable treatment. Coating techniques can be used to improve the way materials and products look and perform. Important examples include wear-resistant coatings on tools or machine parts and thin films on panes of glass that optimise transmission or reflection in selected parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Many innovative products would not even exist without the special properties provided by thin films. Prominent examples are computer hard discs, optical data storage media like CDs, DVDs and Blu-ray, flat displays and thin-film solar cells.

Intelligent materials are capable of responding to stimuli or changes in the environment and adapting their function accordingly. Piezoelectric materials, magneto- and electrostrictive materials, shape memory materials and functional fluids are all used to influence the mechanical properties of systems. The physical effect is not the same: sensors transform mechanical energy into measurable electrical parameters; whilst actuators transform other energy forms into mechanical energy.

Disastrous accidents like the high-speed train crash in Eschede (Germany) in 1998 are a clear reminder that reliable inspections of key structural components are vital for the safe operation of complex systems. Material and structural testing is essential in all phases of the product life cycle, from the design stage to production and operation.

Materials simulation enables us to look into the future of materials or components, for instance through reliability predictions or life cycle analysis. It allows components to be tested while they still only exist in the heads of their developers or at most on blueprints. And simulation makes it possible to impose load scenarios which ought not to occur at all in practice or which would be technically too difficult to imitate in a test field.

Self-organisation is one of the fundamental principles of structure formation and growth in nature. Individual building blocks join to form ordered, functioning units. This enables the development of complex systems and the assembly of galactic clusters, special types of landscapes, crystalline structures and living cells. Some influential factors, such as bonding forces between system components and special environmental conditions also play a decisive role in that process.

Information and communication technology (I&C) has changed the way we live and will continue to do so in future. The success of semiconductor electronics has played a key role in this development. The properties of semiconductors lie between those of insulators and conductive metals.

Microsystems technology (MST) encompasses technical systems consisting of functional components between 1–100 μm in size. The spectrum of functional elements integrated into microsystems ranges from electronic to mechanical, as well as optical and fluid components.

Power electronics is the key technology when it comes to accurately controlling the flow of electrical energy to match a source with the requirements of a load. It is only when an electrical load is supplied with the precise amount of electrical energy needed to meet the current requirement – e. g. in brightness control of lighting, rotation control of an electric motor, acceleration/braking control of trains – that minimum energy consumption and optimum performance of the load can be achieved. In order to minimise power loss when controlling the flow of electrical energy, it is crucial to select the appropriate power

semiconductor

devices to give the proper frequency and switching performance. At high switching frequencies, like those applied in power supplies for PCs (typically higher than 100 kHz), fast electronicallytriggered switches such as power

MOSFETs

(metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor) are required. By contrast, electronically-controlled switches that have low conduction losses, such as IGBTs (insulated-gate bipolar transistor), are needed to control the rotation speed of electric motors (which have typical switching frequencies lower than 10 kHz).

Polymer electronics is an emerging technology that focuses on the development of electronic devices incorporating electrically conductive and semiconductive organic materials, especially organic

polymers

. It offers the prospect of an advanced electronics platform using new materials, processes and electronic devices. Polymer conductors and semiconductors open up propects for microelectronic systems that go beyond the scope of conventional electronics based on silicon as the

semiconductor

.

Magneto-electronics is a new technology used to store, display and process information based on changes brought about by magnetic fields in the electrical properties of a material or material system. The magnetisation alignment can be influenced by external factors. It can be converted into electrical signals by means of quantum-mechanical effects.

Optical technologies encompass all technologies for the generation, transmission, amplification, manipulation, shaping, measurement, and utilisation of light. In physics, visible light is identified as electromagnetic waves with wavelengths roughly in the range of 380–780 nm. Optical technologies also make use of the neighbouring areas of the electromagnetic spectrum, i. e. infrared and ultraviolet light up to the X-ray range. Light can be regarded as a form of electromagnetic waves or as a stream of particles (photons), which are governed by the laws of quantum mechanics. Photons are therefore also referred to as light quanta.

Information and communication is the backbone of modern society. The underlying technology can be organised in four major tasks: processing and generation of information, transfer of information, visualisation of information and storage of information.

Since they first appeared in 1960, lasers as a light source have established themselves in a growing number of applications in industry and in everyday life. Laser light differs from other light sources, such as light bulbs or neon lamps, by its very narrow spectral bandwith as well as its high temporal and spatial stability and consistency.

Sensors are devices that measure changes in physical quantities such as humidity and temperature or detect events such as movements. If the sensors are integrated in a feedback system, the measured variables can be used to automatically monitor or control processes.

Since time immemorial, mankind has used various technical aids to measure physical parameters such as weight, temperature or time. In the case of direct measurement, the result can be read off the measuring instrument itself. Indirect measurements, on the other hand, deliver results in roundabout ways because a measurement device cannot be used directly. Modern measuring techniques need to be able to measure precisely and quickly even in complex measuring environments. Nowadays, it is possible to measure a number of different parameters in running processes with the utmost precision, and to use these measurement data for process control. Metrology thus plays an important role in a variety of application areas – from industrial production and process control through biotechnology, to safety, automotive, construction and medical engineering. The factors measured include not only geometric parameters such as distances, shapes or structures down to the micrometre range, but also the chemical composition of gases, liquids and solids.

Modern communication networks and procedures are increasingly expanding the boundaries of technological communication. Holographic depictions of people holding a conversation, once the stuff of science fiction novels, is reality today. High-resolution video conferences and video transmission across continents are now possible in real time.

The Internet is first and foremost a technical way of exchanging all kinds of information with numerous partners throughout the world. The term “Internet” per se simply refers to the connection of two local networks to form a larger network (inter- networking). All computers in a network are able to communicate with all computers in another network to which it is connected. By linking further networks to this first pair, an even larger network is created. Today, the term “Internet” has long become synonymous with a system of networks that extends across the world. The only thing these groups of computers have in common is the protocol that they use – that is, the agreement as to how data are to be exchanged. Known as

TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol)

, the protocol used for the global network of computers enables data interchange through a wide variety of media including copper wires, fiber-optic cables, telephone lines, radio, satellites, and other technologies. For many private users, a fast ADSL connection (ADSL = Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) with a transmission rate of several megabits per second is already the accepted standard.

Computer architecture is the science of designing computers from lower-level components. A computer is an information-processing machine with a structure that is independent of the application in which it is used. A computer can process any information in any way possible, provided it is suitably programmed and its memory is large enough. However, as modern computers can only process binary information, both data and programmes have to be coded in this form. All computers – ranging from the control unit of a vending machine to the world’s largest supercomputer – are based on the same principle.

Software comprises computer programmes and the data that the programmes use and produce. It is the software that turns a computer into a machine that executes the desired functions. Be it a video game, a control programme for an airbag in a car, a word processor to write this article, or a bank transaction system – all these applications have been made possible by specially developed software.

Artificial, “embodied” intelligence refers to the capability of an embodied “agent” to select an appropriate action based on the current, perceived situation. In this context, the term “appropriate action” denotes an action that is selected “intelligently” – i. e., the events caused by the action must somehow further the actual goals of the agent. The agent interacts with its environment through sensors, which provide perception, and through actuators for executing actions.

Sight is the guiding sense of human beings. Human eyes produce images which are processed and evaluated by the retina, the optic nerve, and the brain. This process is crucial in order for humans to be able to manage their environment. The human visual cortex can do extraordinary things in real time if we consider, for example, the ability to easily grasp and interpret even highly variable scenes with a large number of disturbing influences.

Industrial or white biotechnology is the term used to describe the production of fine chemicals, active pharmaceutical agents, new materials and fuels from

renewable raw materials

(biomass) with the help of biocatalysts. The biocatalysts used in these production processes are either intact microorganisms or isolated enzymes.

Modern techniques in biotechnology have rapidly expanded the horizons of plant breeding and crop improvement. Conventional plant breeding exploits mutagenesis and crossing within a species (or between closely related species) to produce new crop varieties or lines with desirable properties. In combination with improved cultivation methods, it has been possible to create crops with better yields, improved nutritional quality and resistance to stress or pathogens. In classical crossing procedures, the parental genes are randomly assorted. Since plants contain tens of thousands of genes, the alleles are extensively mixed during crossing, and selection procedures are required to identify progenies containing the combinations of alleles most likely to provide the desired properties. In contrast, gene technology enables the direct introduction of single genes resulting in a defined novel crop trait. In this process it is also possible to use genes from diverse species, such as bacteria, dissimilar plants and mammals, making the process even more target-orientated since it becomes possible to introduce traits that could never be obtained by conventional breeding.

Stem cell is the term used to designate those cells of the body that are capable of dividing in their unspecialised form (self renewal) and yet still have the potential to develop into specialised cell types. The process by which stem cells develop into specialised cells devoted to a specific function is known as differentiation. In the course of this process, the immature, undifferentiated cells develop into specialised cells capable of performing one specific function in the adult organism. To reach this point, the stem cell has to pass through a series of differentiation stages. The morphology and function of differentiated cells is very different from that of their progenitor cells, and varies widely from one type of cell to another.

Gene therapy generally involves introducing one or more genes into diseased cells of an organism in order to palliate the disease or – ideally – even to cure it. Genes are the bearers of genetic information, i. e. they contain the blueprints for the proteins. If a gene fails, for instance due to an error in the genetic code of the DNA, the cell is no longer able to form this protein, or at best to form a defective version that is unable to perform the natural function. Such a deficiency may directly result in disorders such as heamophilia or Huntington’s disease. Diseases caused by the failure of a single gene are known as monogenetic diseases. If more than one gene is responsible for the deficiency, the correct term is “multigenetic diseases”. Gene therapy targets the origin of these diseases, the deficiency in the genetic material. Treatment involves introducing a faultless copy of the defective gene into the diseased cells, enabling them to synthesise the missing protein – at least to a certain degree.

All living organisms are made up of cells – cells, that belong to either the prokaryote or the eukaryote family, depending on their type. Eukaryotic cells differ from prokaryotic cells in that they have a cell nucleus. The bacterial world is comprised of microorganisms with a prokaryotic cell type, whereas multicellular organisms like humans, animals and plants are made up of eukaryotic cells. If we want to understand the life processes of an organism, we have to analyse its constituent cells at the genome, transcriptome, proteome and metabolome levels. The genome comprises all the genes in a cell, while the transcriptome comprises all the transcripts (messenger RNAs), the proteome all the proteins, and the metabolome all the metabolites (metabolic products). The transcriptome, proteome and metabolome can all vary greatly depending on the condition of the cell. There are a number of inter-relationships between the genome, transcriptome, proteome and metabolome levels. The genome of an organism contains a large number of genes.

Bionics is a scientific discipline that systematically focuses on the technical implementation and application of designs, processes and development principles found in biological systems. Bionics, also known as biomimetics, unites the fields of biology and technology and stands for a “symbiosis” of the two conceptual and working approaches. While basic biological research draws on modern technology and its methods and equipment, and to a certain extent also poses questions aiming at a deeper understanding of biological functions and systems, bionics comprises the actual transfer of biological findings to the technological domain. This is no direct transfer in the sense of copying, but rather an independent, creative research and development process – in other words, a nature-inspired process of “re-invention” usually involving several stages of abstraction and modification en route to application.

When life is threatened by disease, time is survival. Survival hinges upon the speed with which the cause of a disease can be removed or limited while maintaining the patient’s vital organ functions.

Intensive care units

(ICUs) have been established to help the patient survive by accelerating diagnostics, monitoring vital parameters continuously and initiating early therapy far beyond the means of standard hospital care. The faster and the more specifically any life-threatening situation is treated, the better the outcome for the patient. The outcome of intensive care today is evaluated by the method of “evidence-based medicine” sought through monitored, biostatistically scaled and synchronised clinical studies in hospitals around the world. To obtain an early diagnosis and start therapy, it is necessary to quickly and precisely integrate as much data and background information about the patient as possible. This is achieved by intensive personal communication with the patient – if possible – while gaining access to the patient’s blood circulation and airways, and by obtaining organ images and vital blood parameters.

The development of new drugs is driven by the effective use and application of novel technologies, such as molecular biology and pharmacology, highly developed methods in chemical analysis and synthesis as well as powerful computational systems and robotic machines. Nowadays, the process is focused and based on the growing knowledge about molecular principles and processes as opposed to the phenomenological approach of former times. The molecular description of a disease enables the targeted development of a drug substance that constitutes the central ingredient of a marketed medicine or drug. All active drug substances are chemical compounds – in other words, molecules that interact with other (bio)molecules (e. g. enzymes and receptors) in the body to ensure the desired efficacy. The active drug substances are mixed with excipients and other ingredients in order to obtain the optimal application form, e. g. a tablet, an injection or a drinkable liquid. The development of a new drug takes 12–14 years from early research to market entry, with overall industry success rates of below 1%; the costs per commercialised drug prior to market entry are in the range of 900 million to more than 1 billion euros.

The idea of recovering lost body functions by using available materials and technologies is documented even in antiquity. The ancient Egyptians used linen saturated with rubber as wound dressings, the Aztec civilisation used gold in dental fillings, Romans had urological catheters, while the first prosthetic hands, feet and legs appeared during the Renaissance.

Progress in the field of minimally invasive and non-invasive therapy is closely linked to the development of high-resolution imaging tools for diagnostics and the guidance of surgical instruments. Minimally invasive medicine opens the way to low-cost, ambulant treatment under local anaesthesia with less post-surgery pain and improved cosmetic results. Microsystems engineering, nanotechnology, and laser technology, in particular, have contributed to the development of the required miniaturised high-tech medical devices.

Nanomedicine is the use in medicine of nanoscale or nanostructured materials that have unique medical effects due to their structure. As these objects are found at the interface between the molecular and macroscopic world, quantum mechanics still governs their material properties such as magnetism, colour, solubility or diffusion properties. These properties can be exploited to develop improved medication and diagnostic procedures. Some effects of the interaction with cells and tissue are not restricted to objects with a scale of 1–100 nm – the technical definition of nanotechnology – but can also occur at significantly larger sizes. Therefore, the field of nanomedicine traditionally includes objects with a size of up to 1000 nm. The main areas of research in nanomedicine are drug delivery, diagnostics, and biomaterials/tissue engineering.

Medical imaging devices play a key role in today’s healthcare technology. They have traditionally been focused on diagnostic purposes, but are today applied in many advanced therapeutic and monitoring procedures as well. While physicians are still the final decision makers, they are supported by a variety of imaging modalities and the corresponding image processing and viewing tools. The applied systems are selected on the basis of their sensitivity and specificity for the diseases in question.

Information technology has had a huge influence on many areas of medicine over the last 20 years. Large computer systems are now an established part of administrative systems in medical institutions – for hospital logistics, billing of services and storing patient data. In medical technology itself three-dimensional (3D) spatial and functional imaging (

X-ray, ultrasound, tomography

) has resulted in a changing awareness of the human body and in higher expectations of quality in diagnosis, therapy and rehabilitation. We not only expect a new knee joint to function reliably; it is also assumed today that both legs will be of equal length, the feet are aligned parallel to each other and the new knee can bear as much weight as the one it has replaced. Meeting such demands has only been possible since the beginning of the nineties and would not have been feasible without monitors, measurement technology and computer-controlled instruments in the operating theatre. We can only achieve optimal results if 3D image data is used to precisely plan the surgical procedure pre-operatively, and if these plans are executed precisely, to the millimetre.

Molecular diagnostics deals, among other things, with the detection of different pathogens such as bacteria and viruses and the detection of disease-relevant mutations of the human genome. Most techniques in molecular diagnostics are based on the identification of proteins or nucleic acids. Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA) can be amplified and detected with diverse methods such as PCR, real-time PCR and DNA microarrays.

A person’s functional capability and disability are viewed as a complex interaction between the individual’s health condition, other personal factors, and contextual factors concerning the environment.

Food technology encompasses all the know-how required to transform raw materials into semi-finished or finished food products. Over the past 50 years, consumers have gained greater access to information relating to the composition of food products. They are becoming increasingly aware of the implications of their diet to their well-being and the prevention of diseases. This has led to a steadily growing demand for products rich in fibres, whole grain, vitamins and minerals. During the second half of the 20th century, the living habits and the energy expenditure of the population in the industrialised world changed dramatically. Since diets remained more or less unchanged, the surplus energy consumed led to obesity, and its co-morbidities became a serious health concern in many parts of the world. This has resulted in a steady rise in the demand for nutritionally balanced products with a lower energy density. The beginning of the 21st century saw double digit growth rates in the market for products containing bio-actives that deliver specific health benefits (so-called functional food). Today’s consumers also link nutrition and health with natural and organic foods, leading to a higher demand for such products in the developed world.

TV sets, set-top boxes, PVRs, home entertainment centres, home stereo and PCs: Nowadays living rooms boast more processing power and complex electronics than the early space capsules did. There is a process of switching over from analogue to digital although many opportunities opened up by the “age of digital entertainment” have not yet been explored. Digitisation changes everything: the production environment, transmission and, of course, media storage. Since media are now available as bits and bytes, one can use very different data channels to transmit them. The Internet is easy to use and cost effective: we can access video, music and photos. Groundbreaking changes are being made in radio, films, TV and how literature and journals are viewed. These media will be made available to us in a completely new way.

Ambient Intelligence (AmI) is about sensitive, adaptive electronic environments that respond to the actions of persons and objects and cater for their needs. This approach includes the entire environment – including each single physical object – and associates it with human interaction. The option of extended and more intuitive interaction is expected to result in enhanced efficiency, increased creativity and greater personal well-being.

The rapid development of microprocessors and graphics processing units (GPUs) has had an impact on information and communication technologies (ICT) over recent years. ‘Shaders’ offer real-time visualisation of complex, computer-generated 3D models with photorealistic quality. Shader technology includes hardware and software modules which colour virtual 3D objects and model reflective properties. These developments have laid the foundations for mixed reality systems which enable both immersion into and realtime interaction with the environment. These environments are based on Milgram’s mixed reality continuum where reality is a gradated spectrum ranging from real to virtual spaces.

There are many different types of virtual worlds. A virtual world should, however, not be confused with a simple animation on a website or a game on a computer. A virtual world is an interactive simulated environment accessed by multiple users via an online interface.

Whether it be DVD-players, automatic ticket machines, cell phones, PDAs, machines, computers or even airplane cockpits, an increasing number of products at home and at work have a user interface, in other words a place where humans and machines meet. Direct contact with interactive technology was previously limited to the workplace. Now, there is hardly a social group that does not come into contact directly or indirectly with computer or information systems. However, the continuous increase in the performance and functionality of information and communication systems has resulted in rising complexity in controlling such systems. The practicality of user interfaces has become more and more a key criterion for acceptance and success in the market.

Business communication is the term used to designate communication that is supported by information and communication technology, between employees in a company and in company networks. A great diversity of technologies is available, from telephone, fax, e-mail and messaging services to portal solutions, unified communications and collaboration systems.

The

Internet

is the world’s fastest growing marketplace, with seemingly limitless opportunities for marketing products and services. At the same time, progressive technologies are bringing about a transformation from an industrial to an information society. This creates dynamic market environments with low entry barriers, greater market transparency, and a heterogeneous demand for customised products and services. The “e-space” improves customer relationships through lower service costs, interactive and personalised customer communications, speed and accuracy, an enhanced capability to track and measure transactions, instantaneous ways of communicating round the clock (24/7 availability), and the ability to offer different combinations of product and service elements to fulfil customer requirements.

In recognition of knowledge as a valuable resource, there is a whole spectrum of processes, methods and systems for the generation, identification, representation, distribution and communication of knowledge, which aim to provide targeted support to individuals, organisations and enterprises, particularly in solving knowledge-based tasks. This is known as information management and knowledge management (which we will handle jointly in this article). Making the right knowledge available to the right people at the right time is considered a crucial factor in ensuring the efficiency and competitiveness of modern enterprises.

The term “traffic management” was initially restricted to roadway traffic and meant applying some form of telematics to control traffic flow. Today, however, traffic management is used as a generic term for all modes of transport to describe a wide variety of measures designed to optimise operations for users, operators and others affected by the transport mode. It includes measures on the planning, technical, organisational and legal levels.

Vehicles in the future will be influenced by a wide range of different customer demands on design, environment, dynamics, variability, comfort, safety, infotainment and cost effectiveness.

The market share of rail is low compared with other modes of transport, but it offers some great advantages which are prompting a renaissance in this means of transportation. Three key advantages of rail transport are outlined below.

The construction and operation of ships is one of the oldest large-scale technologies in human history. Today, ships form the backbone of the globalised world economy and are considered a superior mode of transport from an economic and ecological standpoint.

The dream of flying is as old as mankind. History is full of stories about attempts to fly, from Icarus’ waxand- feather wings, or Leonardo da Vinci and his helicopter, to Jules Verne and his “Journey to the Moon”. The first manned flight ever reported was that of the Montgolfier brothers in their balloon. But it was more recently, in the late 1890s, that Otto Lilienthal took a scientific approach to aerodynamics and flight mechanics. He studied the cambered wings of birds, and his “Lilienthal Polar Diagram” is still in use today. Shortly afterwards, the Wright brothers made their famous powered flight, ultimately based on Lilienthal’s theories.

Space begins at an altitude of 100 km. Travelling beyond this frontier requires cutting-edge engineering and an enormous amount of energy – the prerequisites for any utilisation or exploration of space. The first space launch took place just over 50 years ago.

Despite the emergence of renewable sources of energy, oil and gas will continue to play a major role well into the 21st century. The industry, however, is faced with many challenges: fields are being depleted faster than new ones are being discovered; large fields are becoming more and more difficult to find; and compliance with stringent environmental regulations is increasingly demanding. Technology is thus a key factor for maintaining a commercially viable petroleum industry and practicing responsible environmental stewardship.

Mineral deposits are natural occurrences of valuable elements in the earth’s crust in a higher concentration than the average for those elements. They are found in rock series that have specific characteristics for each individual deposit type. Mineral deposits are unevenly distributed around the earth.

Fossil fuels are very diverse, because they are formed in different ways and have different states of aggregation (solid, liquid and gaseous). Every fuel has specific characteristics, as well as advantages and disadvantages. Solid fuels are most difficult to handle, and the milling, transportation, storage and ash removal after combustion procedures are extremely intensive. Hard coal is located up to a few thousand metres beneath the earth’s surface. Conventional mining only goes up to a few hundred metres, however. Hard coal consists mainly of carbon, as well as hydrogen, oxygen, sulphur, nitrogen, water and ash. Lignite (brown coal) is mostly located close to the earth’s surface and can therefore be mined more easily. It consists of about 50% water and has a lower heating value than hard coal. Crude oil mainly consists of various hydrocarbons, as well as nitrogen, oxygen, sulphur and small amounts of metal. Depending on its source, crude oil has a specific chemical composition that influences its physical properties, such as its viscosity and colour.

In industrialised countries, nuclear power represents an alternative to the fossil energy resources, coal, gas, and oil. The International Atomic Energy Agency estimates that the share of power from nuclear sources in world aggregate energy consumption will remain unchanged at approximately 5% until 2020.

The term ‘renewable energies’ refers to those sources of energy that are inexhaustible when seen from a human perspective. They are derived from ongoing environmental processes and made available for technical applications.

Bioenergy is obtained from biomass. The term biomass encompasses all materials of biological (organic) origin, i. e. plants as well as animals and the resulting residues, byproducts and waste products (e. g. excrement, straw, sewage sludge). In chemical terms, biomass consists of carbon (C), oxygen (O) and hydrogen (H) plus various macro and microelements (such as nitrogen, potassium, chlorine).

Every hour, enough solar radiation reaches the earth to meet the entire annual energy demand of the world’s population. The solar radiation at a given location varies according to the time of day and year, and prevailing weather conditions. Peak values for solar radiation on clear sunny days are around 1000 W/m

2

. In temperate climatic regions, the annual total for solar energy is 1,000–1,200 kWh/m

2

; it can reach 2,500 kWh/m

2

in arid desert zones.

Electrical energy is produced by converting primary energy sources in power plants. It is more efficient, reliable and environmentally friendly to convert energy in large units than in small units, which is why the conversion does not take place directly at the place where it will be used. The electrical energy is therefore transported from the power plant to the user via an electricity grid. Some of the energy is lost during transport. These losses increase in proportion to the ohmic resistance of the wire connections, but decrease quadratically in relation to the transport voltage. Long distances are therefore covered at high transport voltages, which are then transformed back to the required low voltages in the vicinity of the consumers. Nominal voltages of 220 kV and 380 kV are the standard levels in Europe. Although even higher voltages are technically feasible and are used in some countries such as Russia (500 kV, 750 kV), they are only economical when covering extremely long transmission distances due to the high cost of the equipment involved (insulation, pylons).

The purpose of adding energy storage systems to the

electricity grid

is to collect and store overproduced, unused energy and be able to reuse it during times when it is actually needed. Such systems essentially balance the disparity between energy supply and energy demand. Between 2–7% of installed power plants worldwide are backed up by energy storage systems.

The energy technology of the future will have to meet a dual challenge: to deliver a secure and sufficient supply of energy to a growing world population, despite limited energy resources, and to curtail emissions that have a negative impact on the environment. Electricity and hydrogen are clearly evolving into the most important energy vectors of the future. Fuel cells fit in with this trend, as they are able to convert hydrogen efficiently into electricity and heat in an electrochemical reaction, their only by-product being water. Fuel cells can continue to operate as long as fuels are available. These systems achieve a high electrical efficiency of about 60%, even in the low power range of several hundred watts, in contrast to conventional power plants, which need to be dimensioned in the MW range to achieve high electrical efficiency values.

The term microenergy technology refers to the conversion, electrical conditioning, storage and transmission of energy on a small scale. Its goal is to improve the energy density and thus extend the operating time of battery systems, as this can be a limiting factor for many electronic applications. A fundamental distinction is made between technologies based on the conversion of conventional energy carriers with a relatively high energy density (such as hydrocarbons and alcohols) and those which passively transform energy from their local environment, such as light, heat and motion, into electrical power (and heat). The latter are grouped together under the term

“energy harvesting”

, reflecting the passive way in which the energy is transformed in the absence of chemical energy carriers.

Environmental monitoring can be defined as the ascertainment, observation and surveillance of natural processes or of the human-induced changes taking place in our environment. It generally involves measuring, managing, processing, analysing, modelling, visualising and disseminating environmental data. The ultimate goal of environmental monitoring is to consciously prevent damage to the environment and to support sustainable planning.

Many new technologies have been developed in recent years based on physical, chemical and biological processes capable of mitigating or remediating environmental damage. These include environmental biotechnology, defined as the development, use and regulation of biological systems to remediate contaminated environments (land, air, water). Nowadays this definition includes the development of environmentally friendly processes such as green manufacturing technologies and sustainable development.

Humankind has 1.4 trillion litres of water at its disposal on Earth, of which only 3% is freshwater. Around 60–70% of fresh water resources are used for irrigation in agriculture, the rest is consumed by human beings and industry, though quality and quantity differ from one region to the next. Water is essential to all life processes. Indeed, all living beings are generally made up to a large extent of water. Presumably, the reason for water’s core position as the basis of life is to be found in its properties as a solvent for solids, gases and other liquids.

Climate protection and the efficient use of resources are major challenges facing modern society. There is a need for waste management solutions based on efficient recycling and treatment strategies to replace end-of-pipe solutions. Depending on the economic development of a country, its inhabitants produce from 70–800 kg of municipal solid waste (MSW) per year. The amount of waste generated is often linked directly to income level and lifestyle. Higher incomes lead to increased consumption and thus more waste – a problem also faced by industrialised economies, which have to find ways to avoid, minimise or recycle the waste they produce.

The adoption of product and material closed-loop recycling forms the cornerstone of our responsible interaction with the environment, resources, and life cycle engineering. Apart from costs, life cycle engineering aims first and foremost to minimise the environmental impact throughout a product’s life cycle, i. e. during the three phases of production, product usage and disposal.

Air pollution control includes all measures taken to avoid or reduce the release into the atmosphere of any potentially harmful substances caused by human activity. Emissions are attributed to specific sources. Technical facilities such as furnaces, power plants or stationary engines, which emit via stovepipes, smoke stacks, or tailpipes, are known as point sources. These can easily be analysed, quantified and controlled using standardised measurement techniques. Mobile sources of emission such as ships, cars, and trucks are known as line sources. In contrast, fugitive emissions from stockpiles, dumps or tips caused by wind erosion and dispersing dust are defined as area sources and are difficult to control. Fugitive emissions are also produced by ventilation through doors, windows, and the ridge turrets of halls.

In the past 50 years, agriculture in the industrialised world, especially in North America and Western Europe, has achieved an enormous increase in productivity. In the early 1950s, the output of a single farmer in Western Europe was merely sufficient to supply 10 people with food. By the turn of the millennium, the average farmer was producing enough food for more than ten times as many persons. The reasons for this increase in productivity are not only progress in plant breeding, plant nutrition and the control of plant diseases and pests, but primarily also technical developments.

All over the world, climate change is regarded as one of the most important environmental problems faced by the planet. It is now accepted that mankind, through the emission of certain trace gases, has a significant influence on climatic conditions (anthropogenic greenhouse effect) and that the average global temperature of the earth will rise in the course of this century. In the opinion of most experts, this will lead to a shift in climatic zones, to more storms and to a rise in sea levels. The most important trace gases, which intensify the greenhouse effect, are water vapor, carbon dioxide (CO

2

), methane (CH

4

), nitrous oxide (N

2

O) and ozone (O

3

). Of all these emissions, CO

2

is making the greatest contribution to global warming. For this reason, most of the measures for combating climate change target the reduction of CO

2

emissions into the atmosphere.

The term “building materials” refers to materials used in the construction trade, and which are generally classified in categories based on their type; metals (e. g. steel, aluminium, copper), minerals (natural stone, concrete, glass) and organic materials (e. g. wood, plastic, bitumen). Modern building materials cannot always be readily placed in one of these groups, as they may be developed through the systematic combination of different types to form composites that provide improved properties over the individual materials themselves (

composite building materials

).

The construction industry has gone through radical changes in recent years. Whereas in the past construction firms were simply required to build, they now have to handle every aspect of a construction project, from planning and manufacturing of prefabricated components to the finished structure, its operation and maintenance, repairs, and in some cases even its deconstruction and the ensuing waste management – ensuring the highest quality of work at all stages. Innovations in structural engineering extend from the development of new materials and construction techniques to new financing and operating models.

The aim of sustainability in building is to satisfy present needs and to preserve a healthy living environment for future generations. This means creating living conditions that are ecologically compatible, economically acceptable and which give users’ needs top priority. Sustainable building has an effect on ecology and the economy, as well as socio-cultural factors such as the health and comfort of users. Sustainable building takes a holistic approach, looking at the ecological, economical and social effects of the built environment on human beings as well as on the natural environment.

Human beings spend around 90% of their lives in closed environments such as apartments, offices, stores or cars. Well-being, health and performance are influenced by various perceived factors inside these enclosed spaces. The sum of these physical impacts is described as indoor climate.

In the 21st century, more people than ever before are engaging in sporting activities. Sport has evolved into a global business that puts both athletes and coaches into more and more complex systems. It relies heavily on advanced technologies. However, sports technology is not only applied to meet the needs of elite athletes and professional competitors – the recreational and occasional athlete also plays a major role in the use of technology-based sporting goods. This has resulted in ongoing research into and development of new sport techniques and equipment for athletes of all kinds.

Textiles play a role in numerous walks of life. While clothing still leads the field with a 43.5% share of worldwide textile production, this figure lay at 50% in the mid-1990s. The share of household textiles – and especially that of technical textiles – has risen simultaneously over the last few years. Household textiles include curtains, towels, carpets, table and bed linen. Technical textiles are found not only in cars, but also for example as filters or in the agricultural and medical sectors.

The traces of early civilisations show that externally applied cosmetics were an integral part of daily life even then. While this topical mode of application forms the basis of some international regulations, the European Cosmetics Directive defines cosmetics by their intended use, not by their mode of action. Altogether, this legal framework permits a wide spectrum of technologies. Cosmetics can be divided into two broad groups: personal hygiene articles, and products to care for and improve the appearance. Although in physicochemical terms the majority of cosmetics are dispersions, there are also many solutions, some of them colloidal, and mixtures of solids. The cosmetic chemist always chooses the physicochemical state that can best achieve the intended effect.

Media technologies are an integral part of most live musical performances. They are the source of components for musical instruments and the technology used in the recording, transmission, sound design and reproduction of audio signals. Electronic and electroacoustic devices are not only involved in the live performance of popular music (pop, rock and jazz). Also classical concerts (featuring orchestral music or opera, for example) are often supported by media technology, which is at times invisible, for instance when the reverberation of an opera house is enhanced by an “electronic architecture” of hidden microphones and loudspeakers for the performance of a symphony. For contemporary composers, electric and electronic instruments are the natural extension of their sonic repertoire. The live performance of music in large indoor or open-air venues with audiences of more than 10,000 people would be virtually impossible without electroacoustic technology.

The domestic appliances industry focuses on resourcesaving technologies with the following aims:

– Saving resources: Energy (e. g. economic compressors in refrigerators), water (e. g. water detection and dirt sensors in dishwashers and washing machines), consumables (e. g. optimised technology for washing machines – dosage of detergent according to the quantity of laundry)

– Improved performance (e. g. vacuum-cleaner motors), time savings (e. g. induction cooking), “Quantum Speed” (combination of several heating types, better cleaning performance, e. g. variable water pressure in dishwashers)

– Comfort: Noise reduction, easy operation (e. g. automatic programmes, sensor pushbuttons, plain text dialogue), ergonomics (e. g. new appliance concept with optimised access), design (e. g. premium materials, large displays)

Modern-day demands for conserving resources and saving energy, for example in automobile manufacture, are increasingly leading to lightweight and composite designs. The latter involve vehicle bodies made of combined materials: steel materials with different strengths, aluminium alloys and, in future, sheets made of stainless steel, titanium, and magnesium. Innovative, “semi-finished” products are also used. These offer advantages in the production process chain, which they can help to simplify, or serve to manufacture components that have multifunctional properties and meet additional requirements such as the ability to damp noise. The challenges involved can only be addressed successfully if the entire product creation process is examined in detail. The production processes available at present and those set to be introduced in the future can be divided into six main categories according to two criteria: those that change material cohesion and those that change material properties.

New approaches to production engineering are being applied extensively in the automotive industry. This involves the entire production process from the car body plant through to assembly, starting with the first metal panel, continuing with the finished body, and ending with the completed vehicle. After the individual body components have been made in the press shop, they are then assembled in the body shop to create more complex vehicle components such as the side wall, floor, and flaps (trunk lid, engine hood, and doors). In order to connect them permanently, various joining processes are used, such as welding, gluing, clinching, and riveting. In the body shop, the entire vehicle body is built up step by step. In the surface treatment shop the car body is protected against corrosion and painted. This is followed by the assembly line, the first step being what is known as a “marriage”, i. e. fitting the powertrain, which comprises the engine and transmission, into the body; the second step involves fitting the cockpit, seats, and interior equipment.

The chemical industry transforms the earth’s raw materials into many important basic materials in use every day. More than one quarter of the petroleum pumped worldwide ends up in films, fibres, paints, coatings, flavourings, fertilisers and crop protection agents, as well as body-care products and medicines. Annual production volumes cover a vast range: from 150 g of a haemophilia drug to more than 48 mio. t of the commodity plastic polyethylene. For each new product, the chemical synthesis must be developed in a laboratory, the process created on a small scale and finally brought up to production scale – including the preparation, isolation and often formulation or design of the product. Process technology provides the necessary plant and equipment for each process step. There is a continuous need to modify existing plants or to design new, tailored facilities.

The mobile phone is a short-lived consumer good. New models appear on the market every six to twelve months, and the necessary adaptations then have to be made in factories to keep pace: adjustments must be made to machines, new plants must be acquired, and the required amounts of space and personnel may change as well. Even the automobile industry, which has traditionally produced more long-lasting products, now has to adapt: the life span of a new generation of cars may be as short as four years. Both major and minor product reassessments may arise just as often, and as the product changes, the related production means must change as well.

Robotics is the science and technology of designing, building and using industrial and service robots. Industrial robots were first used on a production line in 1962. Today, they are more than one million in number, the principal applications being welding, assembly, handling, machining, paint-spraying and gluing. The 1980s witnessed the first uses of robots outside the area of industrial production, particularly in applications in which the respective task could not be executed manually because it was unacceptable or too dangerous for a human to perform or because the required accuracy and/or force could not be achieved by manual means. Robots of this type are known as service robots. Nowadays, service robots are at work cleaning buildings and roads or monitoring public areas, such as museums. Ever more robots are being used to carry out hazardous maintenance and inspection operations in industry, local authorities and the energy sector. At the personal and domestic level, robots are increasingly finding applications as robot vacuum cleaners, automated lawnmowers and toy robots. These personal robots may be early examples of future systems which will do useful jobs and assist humans in everyday environments.

The term logistics can be used to describe the planning, execution, design and control of all material and information flows between a company and its suppliers, all in-house flows, and the flows between a company and its customers. Put simply, logistics ensures that the right quantity of the right goods, with the right level of quality, arrive at the right location at the right time–and at the lowest possible cost. Logistics not only covers the control of transport, transshipment and warehousing processes, but also services such as customised packaging, assembly, data storage and information management that provide value added to the logistics process. As outsourcing is becoming increasingly common in certain sectors, the use of value-added chains is growing all over the world. The supply chain has therefore developed into an extremely complex delivery network requiring a high level of transparency, planning, tracking and control.

Nowadays the main role of information security is to protect electronic information from threats such as loss, manipulation and espionage. As information technology systems are used in numerous sectors, e. g. in power generation and distribution, telecommunications and transport infrastructure, their protection is essential for modern life.

The end of the Cold War signalled a change in the basic security environment and in the requirements of the armed forces. Nowadays, the main task of the armed forces involves what are commonly known as peacemaking and peacekeeping operations, some of which are carried out far away from the respective home country. As a result, mass military forces, equipped as a rule with heavy battle tanks, are less in demand today than specially armed units that can be moved quickly even across very long distances. This change is reflected in the development of the weapons and military systems used.

Hazardous materials are matter, substances, mixtures and solutions with harmful characteristics (e. g. toxic, flammable, mutagenic). Normally a distinction is made between the four main categories of chemical agents, contagious agents, radioactive substances and explosives when considering possible protective measures. Technological progress has put mankind and the natural world at greater risk of accidents arising from the industrial use, manufacture or transport of such hazardous materials. There is also the everpresent threat of warlike or terrorist acts. Threat analyses are attaching more and more importance to risks posed to the population by terrorism.

Forensic science in essence uses scientific and technical methods to investigate traceable evidence of criminal acts. It is employed in solving crimes and in related legal proceedings in courts of law. Developments in technology and crime prevention measures are also component parts of combatting crime in its wider sense.

In recent years, the growing threat of international terrorism and the increasing networking of organised crime have led to a worldwide boom in surveillance technology. In Great Britain alone, where video control has been pioneered since the eighties, more than one million security cameras are in use today in the private and public spheres. In London alone, several thousand cameras are deployed in underground stations, buses, football stadiums and other public places. In other countries, too, surveillance technology is making progress. Application areas are predominantly the monitoring of objects, i. e. buildings, public spaces, stations, public transport and stadiums, as well as traffic control. The increasing use of security cameras also poses new challenges for operators. Although the installation costs of the camera systems have become rather low by now, using them is labour-intensive. Due to the great number of existing cameras there is a flood of video data that can only be mastered with high labour costs. This is raising the question of how special software for automatic analysis of video content might automate surveillance to reduce work for the users.

A catastrophe is a natural occurrence, a technical disaster, a terrorist attack, or some similar event which affects a large number of people or a large region, with the result that standard emergency measures fail to provide everyone with the required assistance in time. Recent examples include the Elbe River floods of 2002, the East Asian tsunami of 2004, earthquakes in Pakistan, forest fires in Portugal, and most recently hurricanes in the Caribbean in 2008, all of which caused devastating damage. The dimensions of these natural disasters have noticeably increased, not least due to our higher vulnerability compared with previous decades. At present it is usually not possible to predict when and where they will occur, and how severe they will be. But the damage they cause can be reduced by taking better precautions and optimising our ability to respond to disasters.

Different types of emergency and disaster endanger life and personal wellbeing. They may be caused by nature, technical or human failure or acts of crime and can leave heavy casualties in their wake. Typically the vast majority of disaster victims die within the first 72 h, and so a quick and effective response to the catastrophic event is crucial. Depending on the scale of the emergency, various agencies at different levels of public administration, including governmental and non-governmental organisations, have to act and cooperate on emergency relief. In a coordinated effort, initial responders are supplemented by secondary emergency services, eventually from farther away. Their capabilities are increasingly being improved by a range of technological solutions and innovations.

Plant safety should be non-negotiable. However, largescale industrial accidents in the past are proof, if indeed proof were needed, that industrial plants present a risk to employees, the general population and the environment. For example, in 1976 one of the most serious chemical accidents in European history took place in Seveso, Italy. During production of hexachlorophene, a medical disinfectant, there was an uncontrolled reaction and about 2 kg of this toxic substance was released into the atmosphere through a safety valve. An 18 km

2

area was contaminated and many people were poisoned. The accident in Bhopal, India in 1984 was even worse. Temperature and pressure increased dramatically when a tank containing methyl isocyanate was flooded with water. 24 t of the toxic substance subsequently escaped through a safety valve, killing large numbers of people.